The
U.S. government predicted ISIS-led terror plots against Western cities
six months ago, as well as knew the identity of the man believed to be
the mastermind behind the recent attacks in Paris, France.In May of this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published an intelligence assessment[PDF] warning of coming terror attacks in Western cities, even naming the guy they thought would do it.(1)

Published by DHS Intelligence and Analysis directorate in partnership
with the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center, the report named
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a 27-year-old from Belgium, as being a man who
would orchestrate terror attacks against the West, reports the Daily Mail.(2)If the West and its allies knew Abaaoud was an imminent threat, why didn’t they stop him?While we don’t support the government’s targeted drone program due to
its ineffectiveness and its inability to be precise (just to name a few
reasons), based on arguments made by U.S. intelligence officials,
suspected militants like Abaaoud are exactly the kind of targets the
military says it prioritizes.Under the U.S. military’s drone program, President Obama has about
two months to sign off on the assassination of a target they suspect is
“a continuing, imminent threat,” according to a report written by The Intercept’s Cora Currier titled “The Kill Chain” – one of eight reports published by The Intercept in a series coined The Drone Papers.(3)

Belgium raid in early 2015 provided U.S. with intel on Paris attacks, report finds

The DHS reportedly learned about Abaaoud’s identity following an
anti-terrorism raid in Verviers, Belgium, in January 2015. Two suspected
terrorists with radical Islamist ties were killed during the raid in
Belgium, and a third was arrested, the Daily Mail reports. Officials believe the suspected terrorists were under the influence of ISIS.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud on the left (Credit: London Media)

Following the raid, “multiple individuals” were arrested in several
European countries and charged in connection with planned terrorist
plots in the West. The DHS says the bust was the first in which a “large
group of terrorists” possibly acting under the influence of ISIS was
discovered, leading them to believe that more attacks throughout Europe
were on its way.Items recovered by Belgian officials during the raid suggested that
terrorists may use “small arms, improvised explosive devices” and
tactics such as impersonating police officers in future attacks,
according to the assessment.Automatic firearms, precursors for the explosive triacetone
triperoxide (TATP), a body camera, multiple cell phones, handheld
radios, fraudulent identification documents and large quantities of cash
were also found.The assessment predicted that terror attacks were more likely to
happen in Europe “where several recruitment networks have been
disrupted, and several returning fighters have already demonstrated the
ability to conduct attacks—than in the United States given the different
operating environments, number of European foreign fighters currently
in theater, and Europe’s geographic proximity to the conflicts in Syria
and Iraq.”

Mastermind behind Paris attacks faked his death in 2014 in order to avoid detection

Terror networks operating across several countries pose challenges
regarding law enforcement’s ability to “detect and investigate
multi-jurisdictional threats,” says the assessment, highlighting the
importance of “sharing information about emerging and ongoing threats.”The DHS wrote that the terrorist group’s activities spanned several
European countries, including France, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.Abaaoud, the purported leader of the foiled Belgium attack, was
believed to have orchestrated “the operation from a safe house in
Athens, Greece using a cell phone, while other group members operated in
several other European countries.”Media reports indicate that he was behind a phone call made in 2014
to his family informing them that he had died while fighting in Syria.
Authorities only discovered this to be untrue upon learning about his
involvement in the foiled Belgium attacks.The following illustration depicts the Belgian location where some of
the suspected militants were apprehended, as well as their training
grounds and other networks operating in France.Sources: